Lionel trains store model trains sets model railroads and train accessories Auction info
Lionel trains store 1945-69 For Sale Used 1945-69 Cheap 1945-69

1945-69

LIONEL GONDOLA # 6012 from 1949 NICE ! ~ L@@K !

LIONEL GONDOLA # 6012 from 1949 NICE ! ~ L@@K !

 - $8.00 19m
15+ Lionel Rolling Stock & Accessory Boxes, 1 Pre-War?

15+ Lionel Rolling Stock & Accessory Boxes, 1 Pre-War?

 - $24.95 23m
Pair of Lionel 160 Unloading Bins, 1952

Pair of Lionel 160 Unloading Bins, 1952

 - $9.95 24m
LIONELPOSTWAR No. 375 INSTRUCTION SHEET for TURNTABLE

LIONELPOSTWAR No. 375 INSTRUCTION SHEET for TURNTABLE

 - $1.99 28m
LIONEL 2531 SILVER DAWN OBSERV.CAR OB PAPER CARD MINT-

LIONEL 2531 SILVER DAWN OBSERV.CAR OB PAPER CARD MINT-

9 $87.68 30m
Lionel 2421 Maplewood Passenger Car, early 1950s

Lionel 2421 Maplewood Passenger Car, early 1950s

 9 $21.50 34m
Lionel 2422 Chatham Passenger Car, early 1950s

Lionel 2422 Chatham Passenger Car, early 1950s

 10 $36.59 38m
Lionel 2423 Hillside Observation Car, early 1950s

Lionel 2423 Hillside Observation Car, early 1950s

 12 $29.59 44m
Lionel 2532 Vista Dome Box Wrap Liner No Car 1953-1957

Lionel 2532 Vista Dome Box Wrap Liner No Car 1953-1957

 8 $46.00 1h 1m
2 LIONEL 15" X 23" WAX COATED LIONEL PAPER MAKES 4

2 LIONEL 15" X 23" WAX COATED LIONEL PAPER MAKES 4

 1 $24.99 1h 5m
Lionel 35 Boulevard Lamp Post EOB 1948

Lionel 35 Boulevard Lamp Post EOB 1948

 3 $22.72 1h 16m
LIONEL 6416 (4) BLUE BOATS FOR BOAT LOADER UNUSED

LIONEL 6416 (4) BLUE BOATS FOR BOAT LOADER UNUSED

 -
 $40.00
$49.00		 1h 22m
Lionel 132 Passenger Station 1949-55

Lionel 132 Passenger Station 1949-55

 5 $26.00 1h 34m
205 Missouri Pacific A unit with Instructions

205 Missouri Pacific A unit with Instructions

 6 $24.40 1h 34m
Lionel LW transformer original box imstructions nice

Lionel LW transformer original box imstructions nice

 - $49.95 1h 35m
LIONEL PACKING PAPER FOR ENGINES OR CARS 2 LARGE SHEETS

LIONEL PACKING PAPER FOR ENGINES OR CARS 2 LARGE SHEETS

 - $24.99 1h 38m
Greenburg's1901-42, 45-89 Lionel Price guide PIC

Greenburg's1901-42, 45-89 Lionel Price guide PIC

- $12.95 2h 26m
lionel 2343 2344 2333 2353 2345 2356 2363 2368 porthole

lionel 2343 2344 2333 2353 2345 2356 2363 2368 porthole

 - $3.00 4h 51m
LIONEL 625 LV GE 44 TON SWITCHER 57 58 *ORIGINAL OWNER*

LIONEL 625 LV GE 44 TON SWITCHER 57 58 *ORIGINAL OWNER*

 $198.00 5h 1m
100, 5mm White 12000mcd Super Bright Water Clear LED

100, 5mm White 12000mcd Super Bright Water Clear LED

 -
 $7.99
$8.99		 6h 9m

Lionel news

  • Fascinating facts about the invention of
    Lionel Trains     by Joshua Lionel Cowen in 1901.

    LIONEL TRAINS AT A GLANCE: Joshua Lionel Cowen was an inventive guy and had always been very interested in trains. In 1901, he fitted a small motor under a model of a railroad flatcar, powered by a battery on 30 inches of track and the Lionel electric train was born. The first Lionel train was designed to attract window-shopping New Yorkers using the power of animated display. Since its humble beginning Lionel has sold more than 50 million train sets and today produces more than 300 miles of track each year. Joshua Lionel Cowen was an inventive guy and had always been very interested in trains. When he was seven, he whittled a miniature locomotive from wood. It exploded, however, when he tried to fit it with a tiny steam engine. Joshua had never forgotten his childhood experiment. In 1901, he fitted a small motor under a model of a railroad flatcar, a battery and 30 inches of track and the Lionel electric train was born. Joshua  was born on Henry St. in Manhattan’s Lower East Side on August 25, 1877. He preferred playing ball, bicycling, hiking and tinkering with mechanical toys to formal education, and soon became fascinated with electricity, its transmission and its storage in batteries. Cowen did so well in school that in 1893 he entered the College of the City of New York. But, he could not adjust to the confines of a formal education. In short order he dropped out, returned, again dropped out, enrolled at Columbia University, and dropped out there to become an apprentice to Henner & Anderson, an early dry cell battery manufacturer. Then he took a job at the Acme Lamp Company in New York as a battery lamp assembler. During his spare time he liked experimenting, one of many mechanically inclined young men who liked to tinker with things. These jobs gave Cowen the experience he needed to launch Lionel. In 1899, he patented a device for igniting photographers’ flash powder by using dry cell batteries to heat a wire fuse. Cowen than parlayed this into a defense contract to equip 24,000 Navy mines with detonators. His ignorance of armament manufacture did not stop him. He used mercuric fulminate, a sensitive and powerful explosive (his supplier’s deliveryman told him, "The company said you should always keep a good deal around. It’s better to be dead than maimed"), and delivered the fuses to the Brooklyn Navy Yard on time by horse-drawn wagon at a gallop. In January 1900, he filed his second patent which improved on the his first design but again failed to give details. On September 5, 1900, Cowen and a colleague from Acme, Harry C. Grant, started a business in lower Manhattan called the Lionel Manufacturing Company, but they had nothing to manufacture. One hot day when Cowen was sitting in his office waiting for a cool breeze he got the idea of an electric fan. He quickly assembled and marketed the electric fan, but the weather soon cooled and so did public interest. Soon after, Cowen was walking through lower Manhattan when he stopped at a toy store window where he saw, among the toys, a push train. He then had the vision of it going around a circle of track without needing attention. This was the vision which started a legend.